


Dreambody!AU

by littletechiebird



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-12 00:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littletechiebird/pseuds/littletechiebird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heir to the throne of Krypton? Good. Last heir to the throne? Even better. It sweetens the deal. Sure, it probably adds more pressure but that’s not something he’s ever paid much mind to. All he knows is he’s got a pretty bright future and that means life is pretty good. But then he starts having these dreams and Kon isn’t sure about anything anymore. He might have found something he wants more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Boy King and his Dream

_Once Upon a Time..._

All the best stories begin that way, don’t they? The ones you remember. The ones that last. The ones that can really be worth telling. But what if you don’t know you’ve got one to share?

Known or not, this story does have a prince, just like those other ones. Kon-El, the last heir to the Kryptonian throne. How does _that_ make for a story’s beginning? 

Even at a young age, Kon-El was painfully aware of the position he was in by being the one and only heir. He knew what it could get him -- as if being royalty wasn’t enough to give him a big head. More than that, he was a charmer, and he was clever. These were qualities that he only grew further into as he grew in age. 

If one were to look for him, it would be rare that they would find him without a girl on his arm. And his family, despite this fact, feared whether or not their young heir would be able to become the next King and produce an heir of his own. For as soon as he acquired one girl’s affections, he had replaced her with another’s before the first knew that she had been “dismissed”. 

It wasn’t that he wanted to be careless with another person’s feelings, regardless of what others may have believed. This had never been something where he had been out to hurt anyone. He just had trouble... grounding himself. He constantly felt as if he was sleepwalking. He had to find something to keep him focused, keep him feeling as _awake_ as he could get. Something new, someone new, seemed to do that. Of course, this tended to get him into quite a bit of trouble.

Which was one reason why his cousin was standing across the room from him with her arms crossed over her chest, glare screaming of her disapproval. It wasn’t her first time sending it his way once she had him cornered, at least temporarily. 

“Kon-El!”

He only groaned and slouched dramatically. He knew he was caught again. So he flashed a grin her way as he turned around, attitude doing a full one-eighty. “Kara! What can I do for my _favorite_ cousin?” 

She wasn’t buying it. He couldn’t say that he expected her to.

“What did you do?!”

Why was she asking him? They had quite a few abilities but he was pretty sure telepathy wasn’t one of them.

“Evidently something wrong. You wanna fill me in?” 

Even without telepathy, he had a good idea of the subject on which they would be speaking. It was unlikely to be anything but the usual subject he was found to be at fault for.

“Playing with people’s lives, their hearts! This is not a game! Don’t you realize that you actually hurt people? Haven’t you come to understand that by now?” 

Sure. When he stopped to think about it, it made sense. Not to mention it wasn’t as if what he was being accused of was intentional. Even so, he was being reminded frequently that piece of information didn’t exactly _matter_. He wouldn’t have quite said that he lived his life as if it were a game, but he was convinced that the world around him felt different to him than it did to everyone else. They were invested in quite a bit, especially each other. He cared about his family, and he was thrilled about his future. Yet...

“You need to stop, Kon. Or get serious.”

Running a hand through his hair, fingers drifted through long strands and over short ones in his uneven, unusual style.

“Leave me alone, Kara.” He sighed. “I’m tired.” And he was. He also didn’t want to have this argument again. No matter what he said, it wouldn’t solve the issue. So he didn’t see the point. No doubt he was tired from being out so late with... Well, he may have used up quite a bit of time, but that time had clearly not left an impression. He could hardly recall how he’d spent his time, let alone who it had been with. But he did notice the detail of his cousin’s red face that resulted from his dismissal of her.

“Look, I’ll figure it out, okay? I’ll make up for it.” Or something.

But his promise of sorts achieved the very thing he had wanted it to. The glare he was receiving had lightened somewhat and arms that had been crossed returned to her sides. 

“...Don’t be late for dinner tonight, Kon.”

Being this tired had him uncharacteristically lackadaisical. This showed through all the more as he nodded, waved a hand her way, and left for his room. It may have still been early enough in the day, but nothing sounded better than giving into the rest he had put off all night.

Socializing with the public was very important to do for someone in his position. Kal-El made his appearances too! They were _definitely_ different but... he had his style, and Kon had his own. Besides, he had to start out his birthday with _style_ even if it wasn’t for a few more days. It was going to be the big one-four. He was relatively sure everyone could agree that was a big deal. It meant he was practically an adult! Or at least he thought so. In no time, he’d be the one to answer to. He’d be the King of this whole place.

He had no doubt that he had next to no one’s support or confidence on the matter. On the other hand, he couldn’t find it in himself to care about that. Their opinions hardly mattered to him because it wouldn’t change anything. This was something he had been born into. Maybe it was even exactly what he had been born for. They couldn’t know. They had no idea what was involved in being royalty.

...Evidently he didn’t either but obviously it was something he’d actually have a chance at figuring out. He would likely have to, or there was hopefully someone who would make sure of it. Kal might do it. He kind of hoped he would. 

He also hoped Kal got him an awesome birthday present this year.

The thoughts of the gifts he had to be receiving this year was incredibly thrilling. He had confidence he wasn’t getting his hopes up because he had been dropping some of htis best hints for months.

Reaching the end of the extravagant hallway that led to his quarters, he let his eyes fall shut. He pressed on, trusting his faimiliarity with his surroundings to open the large, sweeping door and move inside. The black, blue, red, and gold swam behind his eyes from the decor that had surrounded him and continued to. It was the common theme anywhere he went. They were the colors of their crest, and they invaded to dance behind his eyelids. He loved and encouraged what they stood for, since they practically stood for _him_ , but for that very moment, all he wanted was the darkness that came just before sleep and his dreams.

Kon only opened his eyes long enough to close his door and drift over to his perfectly oversized bed. He didn’t even bother getting beneath the blankets or changing into more appropriate bed clothes. All he could feel was his heavy limbs melting into his feather soft bed and the warmth of the sun on his back as it poured in from his open window.

_“You are ego, with a grasp of morality and ethics, capable of making basic judgement calls.”_

The booming robotic voice broke into his mind, tone telling him it was something he had come into a bit late. It was as if he had tuned out, or simply missed, the first half of the conversation. But he felt himself growing increasingly uneasy. He felt his lips tug down into a frown as he looked to the red, robotic “man” who was speaking to them before he rolled his eyes. 

Wait. Them?

Looking to his right, he saw a brown haired boy dressed in white and red who was raising himself from the floor and dusting himself off. He seemed to be squirming both awkwardly and impatiently, as if he had been addressed uncomfortably as well. IN other words, his feelings didn’t seem to be far from Kon’s own.

Blue eyes then shifted their gaze to the left as the robotic man had begun to address someone else. 

“Robin.”

Kon felt himself at a sudden, strong, strange kind of attention like his eyes had opened a little wider. The boy being addressed was a scrawny twerp, really. His dress was rather questionable, too. Dressed in red, green, yellow, and he topped it off with a black cape and green again for his domino mask. His hair was as black as his cape, and only a bit longer, and perhaps more even, than Kon’s own.

“You are the latest assistant to the Batman, and the one here to have anything approaching a normal boyhood.”

_‘Hey!’_ He wanted to yell.

His childhood had been awesome!

...But his mouth wouldn’t let him speak. Something didn’t feel right about that even though he was sure...

He was so sure...

“You have a highly developed moral sense, and are the most natural leader.”

_‘Excuse me?_ Pretty sure _I’m the natural-born leader here, metal head!’_

“You are superego.”

Again, he felt himself want to jump in to make his voice be heard.

_‘Wait a minute! How come_ I _don’t get to be superego! I’m the one who’s super!’_

But he had no voice at all. 

“Oh this is idiotic!” Robin spoke for the first time, making a pointed statement and look to be sent in his direction to tell him that it was specifically for him.

“You’re the Red Tornado, aren’t you?” Even though it had been stated as a question, it didn’t seem as if Robin had any question about it at all. But really, he had no interest in the guy at all. “What are you doing here?”

Even so, good question. The guy seemed rather out of place. Though all of this was strange, so he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to know what was “in place”. So he supposed he did have a bit of curiosity when it got down to it. Plus the graffiti on Red Tornados’s chest made him wonder what the hell a “Hanson” was and why it “bites”. Red seemed to be a walking billboard for that “fact” of sorts.

“I had withdrawn from humanity because I had, in fact, lost my humanity...” Wasn’t this guy just a robot or something? Though he did have some impressive expression to him for nuts and bolts. 

Oh wait, he had been talking, hadn’t he?

“However, in the past few minutes, I have begun to believe that perhaps... just perhaps... there is some small aspect of human feeling left to me.”

Stuck again between curiosity and disbelief, he actually wanted to question further. Yet his voice still failed him. ...This should have been more distressing than he let on. But even if his voice failed, he was pretty sure he could ask all he needed to by giving a simple enough look to ask, _Why?_

This seemed to do well enough to let his disbelief show through, though maybe a little too much. Or maybe he was misreading what he was sure was rather clear irritation in the Red Tornado’s voice as he replied.

“Because I find that you three annoy the hell out of me and I feel an urge to _smack you_.”

Red Tornado’s line of sight shifted to the brown haired boy, and as it did, so did Robin and Kon’s. 

“Particularly you, Impulse.”

Oh harsh.

Red Tornado looked back to Kon and Robin. “For that, I am indebted. Thank you.”

Well _that_ had to be the strangest thank you he’d ever receive. First a threat of bodily harm, only to be followed up by a show of gratitude. Kon was just going to settle on the idea that Tornado was crazy.

“You’re, uh... You’re welcome, I guess.”

Was the twerp kidding? ‘You’re welcome’? 

_‘Don’t entertain crazy, dude.’_

“Hey! There’s something on the monitors!” 

That alone was enough to grab Kon’s attention away from wanting to start questioning Robin’s sanity at that point despite the decent praise he’d gotten earlier from Tornado. But this meant he could shake off the boredom and actually _do_ something! They could finally get some action!

Wait.

When the hell had Impulse even left for him to be rushing back in like that?

“Let’s move. Impulse, fill us in on the way.”

The order itself had no sense of having any intention of bringing forth any hostility but Kon’s eyes narrowed immediately, all the same. 

_‘Don’t give me orders.’_

The problem was that it was an order at all. 

Though he had been unheard, he knew it was for the whole reason that he wasn’t moving as he had been told to do that Robin was staring him down for several moments. It only ended as Kon chose to be the one to turn away. He was doing so of his own choice. _He_ wanted to see what was going on. _He wouldn’t be listening to the twerp once he did..._

When he woke, he did so with the same chip he’d had on his shoulder when he had... dreamed?

Opening his eyes, he found it to be overly difficult to pull himself to back in again.

But... from _where_?

That had been quite the dream, if that was what he was supposed to call it. His clothes had been different, strange. Close enough to what he wore now, but his emblem hadn’t quite been the same. And he’d worn gold, just like Kal. But his cape had been gone, too. His fingers absently toyed with the edges of it as he thought back. 

Impulse and Red Tornado. They had been bizarre. But that Robin kid, that twerp, he’d been flat out irritating. Who the hell did he think he was?

Though it was probably stupid to waste his time getting mad at some kid who had only been a figment of his dream. 

It was nearly his birthday for the love of El! All he had to worry about was what he was going to be treated to for dinner that night, and as his birthday rolled around, which present he would open first. Maybe he should think about what girl he would take out that night if Kara didn’t kill him first for trying.


	2. Try it Again, Give it Another Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s one ridiculous thing that won’t fade, won’t go away. It’s irrational and ridiculous. He know that, not only is he wasting his time, but he is getting close to the point where he might believe he’s going crazy. That would be incredibly inconvenient, especially if it ends up being over some stupid fictional kid in an oversized cape who wants to bark orders and play leader. He was pretty sure he was the Prince and One-Day-King so that would mean that got to be his job, right? Then again, he’s the one without a plan when they’re faced with trouble…

Eight Months.

It had been eight long, and rather uneventful, months since he had last dreamed.

Well, that was kind of inaccurate. He had “dreamed”. It was just simple things. Normal things. What he wanted his future to be. And nothing had ever quite felt like that one with those strangely dressed people: Impulse, Red Tornado, and... Robin.

The chip on his shoulder, and therefore his irritation, towards the boy had faded. Somewhat. Time had allowed it to wane, but it wouldn’t fade completely. He couldn’t stand how he had been unable to say a thing, and how easily Robin had given out orders. That Tornado guy had even called Robin a leader. Evidently he’d been more than happy to take on the role. The jerk. Just because the tin can suggested it didn’t mean it was going to become reality, or that he was even _capable_.

...Except he _wasn’t_ a leader because he _wasn’t_ real and Kon was just losing his mind and obsessing over some weird, several month old, dream.

Why was he wasting his time?

Running an exasperated hand through the waved locks that poured down the side of his face just below his temple, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. It was getting somewhat long... The waves had turned into curls and though that was fine, that meant that shortly after that stage, it would become unreasonable and unmanageable. He knew he should get it trimmed.

Flipping the book that rested before him shut, he rose from his seat and turned on his heel to leave. He had been forcibly holed up in the library all day. He had no idea how many hours he had wasted as a result, but his boredom was leaving him exhausted. There was no light left outside the windows that decorated the library walls. Though he usually thrived in the nighttime hours, the historical study of Krypton had sucked the will to do anything productive, by his own standards, straight out of him.

That was saying something.

“My Prince!”

The call that sounded after him from his tutor went ignored.

“My Prince, we are not finished!”

Oh, but they were.

If the fact that he kept walking did not say that clearly enough, he would find a way to make it clearer.

Luckily, it seemed he did not have to.

So he was back on the familiar path to his room, though it was not one he had been utilizing that much as of late. He’d kept himself busy, trying to evade some moments of “responsibility” like he was forced into that day. So he’d taken himself out and away from immediate royal grounds. The long days of studying were growing old. Actually, he was surprised his tutor was actually lasting. He’d kept him for five months now, and comparing his track record with those who had come before, he should have quit a while ago -- or rather, he should have gone to beg to Kal to be released from his duties. He had been reported to be “Absolutely unteachable” and “Impossible”. He figured that was fair enough. In fact, he had decided to take it as a compliment.

After all, it meant that he had gotten his way and that was so worth it. 

Kal was getting plenty frustrated with him, of course. So he probably went all out to find this guy and get him to stay. Kon knew that just meant bad news for him.

At least for now he had gotten to walk away clean and clear of pursuit. That safety washed over him as he stepped through the doors that led to his room. He carelessly shoved at his doors as he walked from them in hopes that they would shut. One clicked, accomplishing his task, while the other stopped just short of clicking into place. This left the door open just a crack. He paid this fact no mind. His eyes were already focused on his bed.

Lazily and tiredly dragging his feet, Kon crossed the room just the same. Just before his knees met the edge of the bed, he allowed himself to fall forward. This left most of his lefts, halfway down his thighs to his feet, dangling off of the bed. Upon realizing the discomfort that came with this position, Kon grasped ahead of himself to pull himself further onto the massive mattress. It was anything but elegant, but that wasn’t the goal anyway. So it hardly mattered.

The cool, plush fabric was a welcome comfort that he was fully appreciating. His body was tense and sore from sitting in the same position all day; hunched over a pile of books. Good posture be damned. He would have been uncomfortable either way, and it wasn’t like that was something he wanted to waste his time thinking and worrying about.

The longer he laid there, he began to notice the chill to his quarters more and more. It wasn’t worth getting up to do something about so, in stead, he took to kicking at his blankets until they were pulled from under him and chose then to use his TTK to list and lower the blanket over himself. Using that ability earlier surely would have eased his struggle, and help him securely shut the doors to his room, but he was not interested in the logical course of action. 

The chill of the room was no longer slipping over his skin. Slowly, he was feeling a growing warmth replace it. The contrast nearly reminded him of a late night, late in the summer when the season tried to begin to hint at the coming fall...

_“A highly dangerous entity, the subject exists in a continuous gaseous state, and is capable of altering its own toxicity, to kill at a whim.”_

This feeling that felt like a pull, felt like falling, he knew it... But he didn’t know the voice that spoke and echoed through his mind with a heavy tone.

_“I’m getting nothing_. _”_

That voice, he knew.

“Y’know, I could canvass the area in a couple seconds. Scare the thing out of hiding, and then we would know where it is!”

So they were looking for some kind of monster then...

Right.

...Wait, right?

Already, he was searching the sky that barely contained any light as the sun had nearly set to end the day.

They’d be fighting this... gas monster in the dark. If they could even find it.

“And then what?” The voice that asked the sharp question brought his eyes to turn to the scrawny boy who was practically swimming in his cape. The tiny kid who was surely gonna play leader, _yet again_. 

But.. he seemed to be the only one with a plan, so...

He was actually managing to make Impulse pause. That was shocker enough since theh guy never stopped moving, talking -- anything.

“Uhm...”

Robin had fixed him with a glare.

“Well...”

The glare may have been coming from a lanky squirt, but he knew how to put some fear into you.

Damn him.

“I dunno.” Came Impulse’s final answer.

Robin was ready with his own.

“See, that’s just it... We have to be ready! We’ve got to have a plan. Somehow, we have to prepare for everything. So if we just go ahead and scare it out -- it’s out! That’s it! What we need to do is draw it out. Once we do that, we need to have a way to keep it controlled. To do that, we need to know what we’re doing and we need to do it together -- as a team. Like the Justice League does.”

...Quite the speech. The kid may not have had a plan, but he had an outline -- a solid one at that. So they, at the very least, had a good place to start.

That three gave all three of them pause that time around, but not only that. It has created some kind of necessary understanding. He may not have been thrilled about it, but it was... well, he just didn’t have much room to argue.

“Superboy -- we’re going to need you for recon. Just go--”

Oh hell no. Here came the orders. 

He opened his mouth to protest, but yet again his voice had abandoned him. Maybe it didn’t matter anyway. Robin seemingly would have cut him off quickly anyway.

“Don’t. Maybe you’re forgetting that you’re the only one here who can _fly_?”

Why was it that he was the only one who ever got to make a point? And seriously. Why did this kid’s dumb glare have to be so intimidating? It wasn’t right! He could take him if he had to! 

He could!

Probably.

...Right?

Clearly Robin was not satisfied with his lack of a response. Yeah, well so was he.

“Look. You know you have to do it! This requires a little stealth. That pretty much rules out the Tasmanian Devil here. You’re the only one who can pull this off, and just do it at all. So for once, let’s not argue just for the sake of arguing, okay?”

He was getting sick of this guy’s logic already. He’d figured out and had mapped out so much already. On top of that, he had arguments and instruction ready for the two of them at a moment’s notice.

Maybe he wasn’t just running with the “leader” title.

Impulse had Robin’s attention.

“Okay. Now, _listen_ , Impulse.” He watched the way their evident leader paused to ensure he had the speedster listening close. “I need you to go to the DEO compound. Once you’re there --”

“Gotcha.”

Nope, not done, dude.

Their leader’s serious face fell to one that was somewhat dumbfounded and confused as his audience sped away. Kon had no intention of hiding his amusement because, really, that was priceless. The kid who seemed to be all serious business with doom and gloom had never looked so lost and so.. his age. He would have to be sure to hold on to that mental image and tease the birdboy about it later.

Impulse was back, and suddenly he shared some of Robin’s confusion. 

“Uhm...” He laughed a bit, almost nervous, maybe. “Then what?”

Somehow, amazingly enough, Robin managed the feat of keeping their hyperactive teammate in one place and actively listening. But he did listen, and the kid was really smart. He immediately picked up on Robin’s plan and allowed him to finish. Once he did, he verified the details and shot off again. This time, he was sure of his purpose.

Then Robin began to smirk and --

Oh my -- What the --

Was he seriously laughing?

Okay. Chuckling. Whatever! It was still startling but...

Why didn’t he laugh more?

“You know, we _would_ probably be his parents... Kinda are now.”

Then that smile slipped back into a sly smirk and...

Wow, stop.

“I know which one you’re gonna be.”

Kon could feel his eyebrows shoot up and his hands did the same as if they were his defense and could somehow offset the claim. The eyebrows? Those just clearly conveyed his horror as he picked up on the insinuation.

No. No, no. No he was definitely NOT the Mom!

No, this wasn’t even _fair!_ How did he even figure?!

He watched Robin begin to climb into the Redbird, still sniggering to himself. He supposed that meant it was about time for him to get started on his part, recon, and therefore his cue to...

This time, waking was different from the last. He didn’t wake with a start, nor a chip on his shoulder to fuel his irrational irritation. In stead, he actually found some semblance of a smile on his face and a true desire to laugh out of nowhere, like he’d heard a joke that was actually enjoyable.

But really, he was still laughing over his strangely dressed little Robin who... he just wanted to see more of.

And then there was the disappointment that it was over.


End file.
